"2nd Fabio's Fantasy Vuelta" - Stage Three : IT'S BRITAIN AGAIN !!!!: Once again we had a draw at the top of the Stage Ranking. And once again we had to resort to the "who posts firsts wins" tie-breaking rule. And once again a UK contender benefitted from that.

Indeed after Andy Bamber captured the opening leg, Monday's stage saw the first success for Jim Robson and his "Bears on motorBikes". The British player got 98 points (see details in the results below), same score as American Chris Edin, but was among the first ones to post his team (whereas "Dino Bravo" was one of the latest squads to be sent). So mr. Robson captured the stage and 30 bonus points in the Overall Ranking, while Americans still have to wait for their first Fantasy Vuelta stage win (it happened the same at Le Tour in July, but when they started taking stages, they had quite an impressive winning streak anyway).

Third in the stage was another player used to select sprinters, and consequently do well in the first half of Grand Tours: Andrea Grandi from Rapallo, Italy, whose bunch of fast wheels had an outstanding performance on Monday, but "Speedy Gonzabel" (funny pun indeed) lacked a winning Trade Team.

Matthias Jünemann and "Jetleg + Lli" got one more Top 5 result, after the impressive streak in the Fantasy Tour, but once more missed a stage victory. The same for Raymond Tiangco, who got his second Top 10 placing out of three stages, but still needs to win.

Not so many participants (actually less than 20) were unable to gain any points. The tie-breaking rules have been applied only to the Top 60 Virtual Teams for this stage.

"2nd Fabio's Fantasy Vuelta" - GC after Stage Three: Kiwi Kris Withington gained 56 more points and kept a comfortable lead over the closest challenger, that now is the stage runner-up, American Chris Edin. Monday's stage winner Jim Robson moved to third overall and became the new best British player, as both Mike Barker and Andy Bamber lost several places. Behind Robson there's another UK contender, Sam Bills, who had a much better start than in previous games, and is now just a8 points from a podium place.

And talking about previous games, why not to mention David Holm ? The Fantasy Spring winner (and third in Fantasy Giro) is currrently ranked fifth. Not bad at all. The opposite for another Dane (previously) accustomed to good performances: it may seem unbelievable, but Keld Haagensen, podium place getter in both 2002 Grand Tours (Fantasy Giro runner-up, 3rd placed at Le Tour), is now at the bottom of the table, with just 3 points, after Cipo and others gave Sharon Sharp plenty of points on Monday. A poor start also for last year's Vuelta winner Jonathan Podmore, currently ranked 263th, with no more than 16 points. Both Podmore and Haagensen will have all the time to move to other parts of the ranking anyway.

OTHER RANKINGS - POINTS (Otras Clasificaciones - Puntos): Johan Koedijker, Kris Withington and James K. gained 7 more points (Zabel 6, Di Luca 1) with the Dutchman still at the top of this classification.

OTHER RANKINGS - KOM (Otras Clasificaciones - Montaña): No changes in the ranking. "C" Category rider Oscar Laguna simply gave 1 more point to the four riders that chose him. American Jeff Mc Farlane is still in the lead.

OTHER RANKINGS - Intermediate Sprints (Otras Clasificaciones - Metas Volantes): Same story as in the KOM Classification: no changes at all. Milaneza's Victoriano Fernandez gave his two fans three further point anyway.